Social Approach

Question 1

Weaknesses in this area of psychology..

2

Answer 1

• It is difficult to study social behaviour without negatively affecting the participants in the study and usually breaches ethics
• The social approach attempts to make generalisations about social behaviour but often the samples used are very restricted e.g ethnocentric, gender

Question 2

Strengths in this area of psychology..

2

Answer 2

• A main strength of social psychology is the attempt to use real life situations when studying behaviour. Because social psychology is interested in human interaction this is best studied in real situations where participants have the opportunity to interact.
• The contributions it makes about understanding social behaviour. Social psychology makes useful applications because it can explain and even offer solutions to problems in the real world

Question 3

What is the aim behind the social approach?

Answer 3

The social approach is interested in studying individuals in a social context, such as family, friends, institutions, and wider society. Social behaviour may involve activity within a group or between groups.